System of electrical distribution and conversion



(No Model.)

- W. STANLEY, Jr.

SYSTEM OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION AND CONVERSION. No. 372,943. v Patented Nov. 8, 1887.

w vf/mooao 8440 2444301? William Stanley J1; (190, 32 my WW u. PETERS. PflMo-Lnnogmpbtr, Walhington. 0.1:.

PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM STANLEY, J It, OF GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR,

OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

SYSTEM OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION AND CONVERSION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,943, dated November 8, 1887.

Application filed November 23, 1885.

T aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM STANLEY, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing in Great Barrington, in the county of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of Electrical Distribution and Conversion, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an organization of i0 apparatus for the distribution of electric energy, wherein alternating electric currents derived from any suitable source are transmitted to a point more or less distant and there employed as the means for occasioning the force 1 5 required to act upon translating devicessuch, for instance, as incandescing electric lamps. In the ordinary operation of such a system, or of systems most nearly resembling that emed in carr in out this invention if the whole or any part of the translating devices are withdrawn or removed from the translating circuit the resistance of such circuit is altered.- Such a change of resistance at once gives rise to a variation in the electro-motive '2 5 force of the current generated. It has been usual to employ induetion'coils as converters for transforming the currents of a given elcctromotive force into currents of higher electromotive force, and the latter are employed for operating the translating devices. In an application heretofore filed by me there is described a system of conversion and regulation wherein the changes of resistance in the secondary circuit cause an automatic regulation 5 of the supply in the primary circuit. By the present invention the'induction-coil, in the sense in which that term is usually employed, is dispensed with, and the currents employed in the translating-circuit are derived directly 40 from the main-line circuit.

The object of the invention is to provide an automatic means of rcgi'ilation whereby a constant difference of potential may at all times be maintained in the translating-circuit irre- 5 spective of the changes-in resistance which occur therein, from which it results that the energy consumed in operating the system may be materially economized.

In general terms, the invention consists of an apparatus whereby a current of variable strength is caused to be developed, the vari- Serial No. 183,724. (No model.)

tions being dependent upon and caused by the variations of resistance in the translatingcircuit. To accomplish this there is included in the main circuit of the apparatus an electric generator which is capable of producing approximately constant electric currents in a closed circuit of varying resistance, together with a regulator which comprises one or more pairs of differential helices normally tending 6 to produce equal and opposite magnetisms in a soft-iron core. This is so arranged. as to constitute an automatic current-regulating de vice.

The conductors leading to the translating 6 devices are connected with the respective ter' minals of one of the opposing coils of the current-regulator,and they thereby form a'shuntcircuit around this coil, the resistance of which is dependent upon the lamps or other trans- 7 lating devices included in the circuit. Assuming, in the first instance, that the trans lating-circuit is open, its resistance will beinfinite, and all the current will traverse both regulating-coils. The effect of this current upon the iron core, which is surrounded by the two coils, will be nearly null, and little or no efieetive magnetism will be developed therein. If, new, the circuit be completed through a translating device having a given 8 resistance, a portion of the current will be shunted from the opposing coil in the main line, and the magnetic equilibrium previously due to the currents traversing the opposing coils will be disturbed, so that a certain 8 amount of magnetism will be developed in the core. The moment that the normal inductive balance between the two opposing coils is thus disturbed the coil prcponderating over the other acts to it as a primary to a secondary o coil of an inductorium, and vice versa, so that the value of the current shunted is not that simply due to Ohms law, but, in addition, that which is due to the electro-motive force developed in the weaker coil by the in- 5 ductive action of the core under the influence of the stronger one. If a second translating device be included in circuit in multiple arc with the first, a greater amountof currentwill be shunted around the second coil, and thus the difference between the effects of the two coils will be still further increased, and the counter electro-motive force due to the mugnetization and demagnetization of the core under the intluence of the alternating currents will be correspondingly increased. This counter electromotive force establishes a resistance to the normal main-line currents, which causes a current to be sent through the trans lating-circuit of sufficiently high electrometive force to operate the translating devices. It this counter electro-motive force is increased it is obvious that ahigher electromotive force must be used to force a unit of current through the primary circuit, and, undcr the conditions hereinbefore stated, the primary generator automatically supplies this increase. The electro-i'notive force therefore varies inversely as the resistance of the main circuit, but is directly proportionate to the work required to be done in the translatingcircuit.

It has been stated that the primary generator is so constructed as to maintain an ap' proximately constant current in its circuit, and hence the potential maintained at the terminals ofthe translatirig-circuit will remain approximately constant, and as the resistance between the leaders for this circuit is decreased by the insertion of more lamps the electromotive force must be increased in order to maintain the current in each multiple are brancl'i of the translating-oircuits at a given value. The shunting ofthe opposing coil automatically accomplishes this result.

The accompanying drawing is a diagram illustrating an organization of circuits and apparatus suitable for carryiilg out the invenhlOll.

teferring to the drawing, it represents a magneto or dynamo electric generator or other convenient source of electricity. This generator is designed to transmit alternating or intermittent currents upon a main line,L, and it is constructed in any well-known manner for the purpose of maintaining a constant currentthat is to say, a current of a constant number ol'ainpercs but variable eleotro-motive force in the external circuit under conditions of varying resistance. An alternating machine whose lield-magi'iels are supplied by a dynamo, A, and provided with any suitable system of automatic regulation, as shown at A", will be found well adapted for this pun pose.

Included in the main line L is a regulating and converting device, 3, consisting of two opposing coils, IE and E", surrounding a core, 1*, to which they are applied by any convenient or suitable arrangement of differential winding. A current traversing both of these coils tends to develop nearly equal and opposite polarities in the iron core, and therefore practically no magnetic effects are developed. A conductor, 1, leads from. a point, 2, between the two regulating-coils E and E and a similar conductor, 3, leads from a point, 4, at the remaining terminal of the coil E Conductors (1 (Z d &c., are designed to lead from switches and other devices, 1/ b b, &c.

the conductor 1 to the conductor 3 in multiple are, and in these the translating devicessuch, for instance, as incandescent lamps 1) D D, &c.-are designed to be included.

The connections of the conductors d d d, &c., will be made and interrupted by suitable In this manner the translating-circuit in effect forms a bridge or shunt for the regulator-coil E. It results from this that the effective strength of the current trz'rversing the coil is determined in the first instance by the difference in the resistance offered to the conductors 2 and 8, respectively, and will vary proportionately to the variations in their resistance; but a second factor isimmediately introduced, determining the current which will traverse the translating-circuit-namely, the counter elcetromotive force, which isinnnediately developed by reason of the disturbance of the balancebetween the el'fectsof the coils Eand E". This counter clectro-motive force increases the resistance offered to a current traversing the coil E and causes an electro-motive force to be developed sufficient to operate the incandescing lamps or other translating devices included between the conductors l and 3. If the resistance of the translating-oircuit beincreased or decreased by including more or less of the lamps in circuit, then will the amount of current shunted be correspondingly de creased or increased, and a corresponding variation will occur in the resistance due to the opposing coil of the regulator. These variations in resistance act to automatically vary the electro-motivo force of the current generated,and it is evident that the limits of this variation will be between a maximum when the whole current is shunted around the coil and a minimum when no current is shunted; so, also, the variation in the current produced will be between the same limits. A. minimum amount of energy, therefore, will always be absorbed in generating the current, and the current generated will be at all times dependent upon that consumed by the trans lating devices. The work expended at this point of local distribution is directly proportionate to the work absorbed, and the same efficiency is secured from a fraction as from a unit of work done.

In all other systems of electrical distribution when the main conductor is divided into branches containing translating devices it has been found necessary to introduce artillcial resistance to maintain a constant dill'ercnco of potential, while varying the joint resistance of such divided circuits. By the present system no artificial resistance is required by reason of the neutralizing effects of the opposed coils upon the same core and the reduction of the magnetic effects due to the changes in such opposition.

t is evident that more than one translating and corresponding regulating system. may be applied to the generator-circuit, and in the drawing two additional systems are reprc- IIO sented at B and B The organization of these systems is essentially the same as that already described. iVhen a second system is brought into operation by the introduction of a translating deviceas, for instance, a lamp, D, connected with the regulator at Bthen a proportional current is diverted and consumed in operating that lamp, and the resistance of the generator-circuit is increased. A current of increased electro-motive force is thereupon generated.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of a source of electricity, a soft-iron core, opposing coils surrounding said core and included in the circuit of said source of electricity, conductors leading from the respective terminals of one of said coils, translating devices, and means for including the same in multiple are between said conductors.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth,With a source of electricity, of one or more sets of opposing magnetizingeoils included in the circuit thereof, a core surrounded by each pair of said coils, conductors leading from the respective terminals of one coil of each of said pair of coils, and in candescing electric lamps or other translating devices included in conductors connecting the conductors leading from the coils, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 17th day of November, A. D. 1885. 4

WVILLIAM STANLEY, J R.

\Vitnesses:

CAROLINE E. DAVIDSON, CHARLES A. TERRY. 

